Renters Insurance
Hello everyone.
If you’re a renter, say in an apartment or house, you may think that if something happens to the house like a fire that you’d be completely fine. You don’t own the house so you obviously don’t have to pay to rebuild it right? Well, yes that’s right. That’s the responsibility of the landlord/owner of the home. That’s why the landlord has homeowners insurance (well at least hopefully).
So nothing for you to worry about right? Well… not exactly. What about all your stuff? The things you own like clothes, furniture, laptops, TV’s, etc etc. The landlord’s home policy will take care of it right? WRONG! You’re completely out of luck and your stuff will just be gone. You get zip, zero, nada for it and you are left having to start over with nothing.
Let’s paint a picture here together. You’re watching TV one night in your cozy apartment and all of a sudden you hear the smoke alarm go off. You cruise into the kitchen and find you forgot a frozen pizza in the oven. Ah, that’s what that smell was. You have a kitchen fire and it starts expanding and before you know it you just have to get out. Your apartment catches fire completely along with all of your stuff in it. Without a renter’s policy, you are completely out of luck. All of your belongings are now gone, your clothes, your furniture, your sentimental stuff too that’s irreplaceable, just gone. Renters insurance will cover you for all of that stuff. And guess what, it’s cheap!! It’s usually around $200 – $300 for the entire year!! By the way this story is a true one from one of our clients, crazy how accidents happen.
Renters insurance can be broken down into 5 simple pieces. It’s really a completely simple and cheap policy.
- Your personal property – all your stuff like I mentioned before. Guess what, it also includes coverage for your stuff outside of your home or apartment too. Ever have your car broken into and your laptop, briefcase, backpack stolen? You’re all set with a renters policy
- Additional living expenses. This is called loss of use. So you get out of your apartment or house after the fire but what next? Where are you going to live? Do you just find the nearest hotel? Do you have to find somewhere else to rent? Where is that money going to come from? Loss of use coverage will take care of those expenses for you.
- Liability coverage. When you think liability think lawsuit. If someone gets hurt at your place and sues you for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering you have a renters policy that will cover that. Typical policies range from $100,000 to $500,000 in coverage. What if you leave the garden hose out and the mailman trips and falls on it and hurts him or herself? You bet you’re getting the bill for his medical expenses and your liability coverage will help. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF COVERAGE FOR A RENTERS POLICY.
- Guest medical. Think something small, like your buddy is helping you cook and cuts himself with a knife and needs stitches. Things like that are covered up to $5000 with most renters policies.
- Lastly, replacement cost for your personal property. This is something you can usually add on and it is going to give you what you originally paid for your stuff. Without it, you’ll get a depreciated amount. Always ask about this when shopping for renters insurance because it can save you a lot of money if something happens.
That’s a renters policy in a nutshell. Pretty simple right? Yup that’s right, there isn’t a lot of moving parts and they are pretty straight forward policies. I recommend this for ANYONE and EVERYONE renting a home or apartment because they are cheap and you will literally have nothing left if something happens like a fire. Again most policies only cost between $200 to $300 per year depending on how much coverage you get. We have a great policy so if you’re interested in a quote just reach out on our page.
Thank you everyone for taking the time to read and remember we’re always here to help.
Cheers.